(Updated at 7:35 p.m.) President Obama visited Washington-Lee High School in Arlington today, continuing his push to get Congress to act on legislation that would prevent federally subsidized student loan rates from doubling on July 1.
The president met for a private round table discussion with three students before addressing an enthusiastic crowd of more than a thousand Washington-Lee juniors, seniors, and parents in the school gymnasium.
After opening remarks that included riffs on prom, final exams and the school’s upcoming graduation, the president began making the case for maintaining the Stafford loan program and keeping student loan interest rates low.
“You guys shouldn’t have to pay an extra thousand dollars [per year] just because Congress can’t get it’s act together,” President Obama said. “In the long run, the most important thing we can do for our economy is to give all of you and all Americans the best education possible.”
The president encouraged students to speak out about student loan rates, suggesting they Tweet their representatives in Congress with the hashtag #DontDoubleMyRate.
“I guarantee you, members of Congress — they pay attention,” President Obama said. “Your voice can make a difference.”
“Teach them how to Tweet,” the president added, motioning to the parents in the room.
The president concluded his remarks by saying that the students in the room were part of a generation that will “remind the world just why it is America is the greatest nation on Earth.”
“When I met your classmates, when I look out at your faces, it gives me confidence about our future,” Mr. Obama said, to wild applause. “I believe in you.”
The president then spent about 10 minutes shaking hands with students before departing the building.
The president’s visit largely went off without a hitch, though there was a small group of protesters outside the school during his arrival, one with a sign that read “Where is the recovery, Mr. President?” A student in the gymnasium fainted shortly before the president’s arrival, but was able to stay for the speech after receiving medical attention.
This was President Obama’s fifth official visit to an Arlington public school during his first term in office. School officials said they could not recall any visits from his predecessor, President George W. Bush.
The choice of venue seemed to work in Mr. Obama’s favor. The crowd at Washington-Lee booed when the president said student loan rates could double, shouted “no” in unison when asked if they wanted to pay a higher interest rate, and applauded with gusto at all the right times. The crowd was so obliging that the reporter filing today’s White House pool report concluded that the president “could not have found a better audience.”
Local officials, including Rep. Jim Moran, Del. Bob Brink, County Board member Libby Garvey, and Superintendent Dr. Patrick Murphy, were also in the crowd.
The president was introduced by Washington-Lee senior Amirah Delwin, one of the three students who, along with their parents, took part in the roundtable discussion with the president and Education Secretary Arne Duncan before the speech.
Delwin, who will be studying psychology at Old Dominion University in the fall, delivered a speech intended to reinforce the president’s message.
“I wouldn’t be able to go to school without Stafford student loans,” she said in an energetic speech that prompted a shout of “I love you” from a fellow classmate. Later, the president told the crowd that “following Amira is kind of tough.”
Delwin told ARLnow.com that one of her teachers recommended her to be in the group that met with the president.
“I was in sociology one day and they randomly called me downstairs,” she said. “I didn’t know what it was for, I initially thought I was in trouble.”
After the president’s speech Delwin, along with fellow roundtable participants Brendan Craig and Rina Castaneda, gave interviews to the various members of the media that came to cover the event. After that, they went back to class.
The White House-provided transcript of the president’s remarks, after the jump.
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